Conflicting Scars
by MkJAS
Summary: In a world filled with magic, life is amazing. Aiden, a fire dragon slayer, meets a new friend and it turns out they have a lot in common. Both share scars of the same grade, but his new friend has other admirers.
1. Chapter 1

Hey guys this is my first Fairy Tail fanfic, although its not really a fanfic, seeing as the only same characters are Erza and Mirajane. but oh well, enjoy, feel free to review.

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Fire. It's hot, scolding, and dangerous. It can burn, scorch and can turn everything it touches into ash, never to be restored. It's furious and it rages on, it only rests when it consumes its entire meal. But, this very same force of nature, harbours a different side. Fire can also be warm, comforting, a source of food or the centre piece for friendly conversations. I have seen it bring people together on cold, miserable nights and I've seen it burn homes and the people trembling inside. All forces of Mother Nature seem to have two sides, fire, ice, wind and even the earth we walk on. But in my world, a world filled with magic and wonder, Mother Nature seems to not care anymore.

"Why did you have to pick such a boring mission?"  
"Because, I'm still a little tired from last week, plus it was good pay. Besides, when was the last time you got to bust a drug store?" I was having a hard time trying to see the logic behind what Chi had just said.  
"Chi, how is that a valid point?" of course he didn't know either and he just shrugged his shoulders with that stupid grin plastered across his face. We continued walking down our path for a while. It wasn't much, we were actually in a town, Tazcen, is what this town is called. Don't ask what it means, it's a sweet town, if you move past the drug addicts and the multiple shady looking florist stores which were all clearly fronts. It's quite odd, at least in my opinion, that drugs are still a big thing even after we discovered magic. I mean to give them credit, it's no longer cocaine or meth anymore, instead it's, 'fairy glitter' and 'stardust', but still pretty much the same things. I sighed out loud, I guess every world has its narcotics. So even though this town had multiple drug stores set up, we were here to take out a specific one. Apparently this particular store was not only producing drugs, but also 'employing' children. Not something the mayor was happy with, so he asked the mages and wizards at Fairy Tail to help him out. Unfortunately, for me, Chi decided to take me along, and frankly I really don't like getting high, and when an entire drug store goes up in flames and we're in the middle of it, you're bound to get high. "Hey, you know we wouldn't keep getting high of you didn't keep burning everything." Chi thinks he's so smart sometimes.  
"Well I'm sorry, but when you stop shooting sparks and start blowing water bubbles instead, I'll stop using fire magic."  
"Just because your magic is fire based, doesn't mean you have to burn everything you touch-" he stopped as soon as he realised what he said. I paused and looked at him, "Sorry" he said softly, "I didn't mea-" I silenced him with a raised hand. "It's ok, you have a point." We continued walking on for a little longer before I spoke again, "And by the way, its fire dragon slayer magic." I said it as smug as possible to make sure Chi knew I was joking, apparently I don't show my emotions well and I need to exaggerate everything I say to get my message across. Honestly I just think people are bad at understanding me.

We arrived at the front of the targeted store and stood side by side. Clouds began to cover the sky and a light rain began to fall, I looked over at Chi and then he disappeared into the sky with a flash of lightning. I stepped into the store alone, very aware that I was hardly alone. I ignored the workers supposedly selling flower and pots, and continued deeper into the building, ignoring the protests coming from the workers. I came to a big steel door, I thought about knocking, but I wasn't feeling polite. Whoever was inside, definitely was not expecting the 2 inch think solid steel door, to relieve itself of its hinges and attack the wall opposite it. As the door slammed into the wall, it calmly began melting away, the drug workers watched the metal slowly contort and became a sort of thick, metallic sludge. To be honest, I found slow melting metal to be a very interesting too, I think it reminded me of beating Alumina up that one time. Although she had a different outlook on that topic. As I stepped through the now empty door frame, I gave the workers, who were all children, the friendliest smile I could muster, which I'm told isn't that friendly at all. Well none of them started screaming so that was good, well they started screaming, but not from me. The wall to the side of me exploded and sent bricks and steel flying, some of it hitting me in the face and arms. I hit the ground and all the kids scrambled, I quickly got to my feet and faced my attacker. Or attackers. Three of them, all men, all tough looking, but all dumb. They walked in and stood there, as if I was going to let them introduce themselves, well if they were I had sent the first man I saw, back 20 meters. There was a brilliant flash of lightning and the second man, flew into the drug store. The third managed a punch and it tickled. A little. He went skyward, and then downward, shame gravity is still a thing. Lightning struck the ground beside me and lingered there until it materialised into Chi. I looked at him, a little disappointed, "Was that it?" I gestured to the three men that lasted less than three seconds. Once again, Chi just shrugged. "Do you know anything?" he was about to move his shoulders again, "Don't!" He gave me a questioning look, a grin plastered on his face again.  
"What?"  
"Just don-"I would have loved to finish that sentence, but apparently a laser to my back was more important.

Needless to say, I wasn't happy and Chi wasn't expecting it. So in honest Chi style, he shot back up into the sky. "Gee thanks for the help" I said through gritted teeth as I got back to my feet, for the second time in less than ten minutes. I like being on my feet, and I was getting tired of being knocked off them. There was a lot of dust coming from where the bad guy surely was, inside with all the drugs. I was definitely not going in there, I fight on my terms. "Oh screw it" I said as I threw a fire ball into the smog, where all the drugs sat, in their flammable containers. Oh gee, now it begins. I considered not breathing, fighting like that would be interesting and a fun challenge. But the mysterious shooter stepped outside. A big man, with canons on his shoulders and a belt of explosives strapped across his chest. "Hi" I said casually, nodding my head to him. He humphed, and a magic circle quickly appeared in the middle of his chest, and a laser beam shot out from it, aimed right at my skull. Good thing I have a sick skull. But I didn't get to prove it, Chi arrived once more, in his usual fashion, flash of light, bolt of lightning, and blocked the laser. "Aww taking one for you pal" I said ruffling his hair. "No I dropped my keys" he replied sarcastically. Then he was gone again, but this time he actually did something. He attacked the laser man, he moved like lightning, literally, same colour, same jagged movements and same deadly force. He attacked the man's front, then bounced off a wall, and kicked him in the back. The man jerked toward me and coating my hand in a ball of fire, I let loose with a right hook, hitting him right in the jaw. I stepped out of his way as he was thrown into a barrel roll and landed on the floor with a thump. "Good punch" Chi complimented. "Good bounce" I replied smiling. The man got up, grumbling and angry, bits of rubble tumbling off his massive frame. "Another round laser boy?" I taunted, cracking my knuckles. About a dozen magic circles appeared around the man, and all of them fired right at me. I didn't have time to dodge, nor was I planning to. People seriously underestimate us. All 12 lasers hit me and when the smoke cleared, the smiled on the man's face disappeared, and I found mine returning. I hadn't moved an inch, I wasn't bleeding or hurt, not that I was planning on that ever happening. Chi patted my shoulder and I let him step through. The man was still shocked and Chi found it all too easy to throw two punches and then kick the man into another wall. There was a crackle of electricity and an 'oof' followed by a loud crash and the tumbling of concrete and bricks. "Are we done here?" I asked, a little exasperated. Chi took a sarcastic look around, "Looks like it. You gonna clean up here?"  
"That's my favourite part." Chi was gone in yet another flash of lightning, but this time he had reason. I twirled my fingers and a small ember danced around my fingertips. It was beautiful, but looks are deceiving. I began walking and with a huge grin on my face I calmly flicked the ember away. It struck a wall and then…. BOOM.


	2. Chapter 2

Here's a bit of an intro to some of my semi-original characters for the 'not so fan-fic fan fic' as well as some lolz.

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"You know. You really didn't need to blow up the whole store." Chi said as he dusted rubble out of his blonde hair and off his leather jacket.  
"You told me to clean up." I pointed out. The only response I received was a humph. I smiled to myself, working is never completely boring. After I quickly, and quite badassly 'cleaned up', me and Chi rounded up the kids to give them somewhat of a pep-talk. They were all children, below the age of fourteen, hell when I was fourteen I was still enjoying cartoons and anime. They were a little shaken from the multiple explosions and burning inferno that was their former place of employment, but they were all glad to be out of there. None of them wanted to be there in the first place, although some of them had nowhere else to go. After that we had a little talk with the mayor and he promised to try and sort things out for the kids, we all had a feeling anymore drug stores would slowly pack up and leave after what me and Chi did. We got paid, a fairly generous amount, and made our way back home.

"WE'RE BACK!" Chi threw the huge double doors to our guild wide open. He loved dramatic entrances. He had a huge smile on his face, it was as if he thought people were actually waiting for him to come back. Instead nobody even noticed him yell and step in grandiosely. He looked around and his arms dropped when he realised nobody was listening, but he just shrugged it off and began conversing with the others. I had to shake my head and smile, Chi was odd, but then again we all were. I walked over to our bar and was greeted with a beaming smile and cheerful hello. "Hi Aiden!" The voice belonged to a certain white haired S class wizard, a scary one at that. "Good morning Mira" I replied. Mirajane was a beautiful lady, she was pretty, kind and was always smiling, but she had a habit of turning into a, well into a demon. To be honest she doesn't actually turn into a demon, she uses takeover magic, and she just happens to turn into a demon, 'satan soul' is what it's called. It's scarier when you see her and realise that there's a demon inside of such a peaceful body. "How was the mission?" she asked happily as she continued to move around behind the bar, serving drinks and, strawberry cake? "Oh same old same old." I replied as my eyes followed the plate with a slice of strawberry cake perched on top of the dish. The plate came to a rest and was placed down in front of someone, a women with scarlet hair… Oh. Erza had noticed me eyeing her cake, and was glaring at me. I held my hands up in a defensive gesture, "Hey, I don't even like strawberry cake" I said nervously. "Good" she replied sternly, re-quipping a fork in her hand. I looked from Erza to Mirajane, one with a beaming smile, and the other scowling at me. "What's her problem" I mouthed to Mira. Erza was scary too, but she wasn't always this scary. "She stained one of her pj's with strawberry cake." Mira answered, not bothering to lower her voice, as if she wanted Erza to know I was asking about her. "They weren't just pyjamas!" Erza cut in sharply, "They're special" she added softly. I nodded and placed a hand on her shoulder, "I understand." I didn't. She attacked her cake and forcibly shoved the mangled piece into her mouth. "Why don't you just bleach it?" I suggested.  
"I did. It shrunk and faded." She answered a little overly depressed, but then again that was Erza.  
"Oh. I'm sorry." I couldn't help but smile when I realised how seriously we were taking this situation. I glanced at Mira and she let out a cute giggle. "It's not funny!" Erza yelled, slamming her fist into the bar, shaking cups and rattling bottles. "Oh come on silly don't be like that." Mira said bubbling. Erza mumbled something and went back to her current piece of cake. I shook my head, smiling, and got up. Patting Erza on the back reassuringly,

I said goodbye to the two S class girls, and made my way home. Well I would have liked to go home, but then again life in Fairy Tail was never that simple. "AIDEN! I want a rematch!" We all heard the voice, but 're-matches' were commonplace in our guild, so nobody paid attention to it. That is no one that didn't have to it, seeing as I am Aiden, I had an obligation to settle this. I sighed and turned toward the challenger, "Lumi, I don't have time for this." I paused then added, "Seriously" just in case it wasn't obvious.  
"Don't call me that! My names Alumina and I want a rematch!" The woman in question was indeed called Alumina, and she was the guilds iron dragon slayer. Black hair, black eyes as stern as, well iron. Black jacket, black tights, black boots, you get the picture. She was pretty, but she was stubborn. I sighed, "No" I replied as sternly as I could manage. "Lumi you're just gonna lose again" Eathelyn called out from the crowd somewhere. Eathelyn was a water mage, a very good one. Alumina was good too, she was great actually, but I always beat her. "Just get it over with" Erza dead panned. "Why don't you fight her?" I retorted. "I don't wanna fight her. She's too weak" Alumina stated. Eyebrows rose throughout the entire guild, there was an 'ooh' and it became much quieter than before. Alumina was not only stubborn, she was always dumb, but I guess it came with the age. She was at least seven years younger than the rest of us, at the age of ten not much sunk in when it came to the wizards at Fairy Tail, or any wizard for that fact.

Erza was midway through shoving another piece of cake in her mouth when she stopped moving. She slowly placed her fork back onto the plate, and someone pleaded softly, "C'mon Erza she's just a kid." To someone outside of the world of magic, or even outside of our guild, would have found that a bit funny and to be honest I did too. But before anything happened I decided to say something, "Uh Lumi for future reference don't say stuff like that, but fine I'll give you a re- Oof!" of course, as soon as I accepted her challenge I had a face full of metal, and I was soaring for a while, before I landed on a table, breaking it and spilling alcohol and burger condiments everywhere. "You know, that wasn't very fair"  
"I don't play fair, I play to win" was the response. Fair enough, she was still going to- "Baah!" Another blow. I wasn't even on my feet, which was becoming a recurring theme of today. That was when the entire guild began cheering and whooping. Bets were quickly placed, although they were very one sided, and Erza went back to eating her cake, that's one crisis averted. I jumped to my feet, and saw Alumina rushing toward me, hands coated in black metal, really tough black metal. Let me tell you, her iron was the strongest metal I've seen, except maybe Erza's armours, but it isn't fair to compare the two. Alumina threw a punch, which I dodged, then a kick, which I blocked, then she launched an iron spear at me, which a grabbed mid-flight. "Listen, if you're gonna keep fighting me at least come at me with different stuff" I said between dodging and weaving. "Well I'm sorry I didn't have anyone to teach me" she replied between attacks. I don't know whether she understood the impact those words had, her story was quite sad, and I felt for her, being a slayer like her. But whether or not she understood the words she said, she managed to get me to pause and land a hit on my chest. It was a good hit and it winded me a bit and sent the guild into an uproar. I think some bets were changed, but that was still dumb. Alumina followed through with a pretty good combo. I staggered back and she followed through with a snap kick, back flipping into it to add force. She sent me back a bit more, and when she landed she extended her arm into an iron rod and hit me right in the chest. Lucky I am who am I am otherwise I would have died then and there, she could impale someone with that much power, and sparring with me all the time, Alumina didn't really understand how strong she actually was, which could become a problem. I filed that warning away for later, I had to end this before she got too cocky. I shook the blow off, and raised my head to find her smiling brightly, which in turn made me smile, she was like my little sister, I cared for her and pretty much loved her, but unfortunately sometimes little sisters have to be put back in their place. She went for a kick and I ducked under it and lunged toward her, grabbing her around the waist I lifted her and threw her back a few meters. I had never used my magic in one of our fights, I didn't need to anyway, but I was worried that if she realised how strong I really was she might lose her confidence and not bother fighting me anymore, which although was annoying at times, I didn't want it to stop, ever. But being able to beat her without magic made her furious, and throwing her how I just did made her really angry. She practically roared at me in true dragon slayer fashion, took a deep breath and, oh no. She was gonna dragon roar, and Erza was next to her and hadn't finished her cake, and knowing Lumi she would somehow hit her. "Alumina don't!" too late. "IRON DRAGON! ROAR!" It was pretty spectacular, a huge cone of iron shot from her mouth, blasting everything in its path. I covered my face and braced myself. It hit me and it actually moved me back a little, which honestly surprised me. After the mayhem cleared I took a daring look at Erza. She hadn't moved, she was still sitting on her chair, fork in hand almost in her mouth. But there was no cake in her mouth and there no cake on her plate, in fact there was no plate. "Uh oh." Alumina was a little blind to the other wizards, but everyone knew not to mess with Erza's strawberry cake. That lady had this weird thing for strawberry cake and we all learnt not to question it, but to just accept it. Erza stood up, she seemed calm, but the stool that went flying into the wall and exploded would have had a different opinion. She placed both palms on the bar and everyone went quite. She took a deep breathe, and then it happened. "MY CAKE!" there was an explosion as she re-quipped what felt to be an overly large set of armour, and I ran, not away from her, but toward Alumina. The little girl let out a somewhat terrified scream, and coward behind her metal arms, then everyone else started screaming. "HOW MANY TIMES HAVE I TOLD YOU ALL!" There was another loud crash and more yelling. I reached Alumina and scooped her up and threw her over my shoulder. "See what happens, when you don't listen!" I yelled over all the yelling. "I'm sorry" she said softly. I could only smile as I ran for my life away from the guild, life at Fairy Tail was never without happiness.

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please do review :D


	3. Chapter 3

OK so for those of you who have already read this, i changed Jins name to Chi, so keep that in mind guys.

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We made it out alive, but I wasn't too sure about the rest of the guild members. Although I'm certain Mirajane was still alive. "Be careful little girl!" Two men called from their boat as they drifted along the canal. "Don't worry I won't fall!" Alumina called back as she precariously half-walked half-skipped on the edge of the walkway. I wasn't convinced at all. We were walking along the canal as the sun lazily came to rest on the horizon, turning the clouds a light shade of pink and the sky a calm shade of orange. It was nice and quiet and- "Nukumori?" That was my last name, it translates to warmth, if you were wondering. "Yes Lumi"  
"Did I say something wrong back at the guild?"  
"Hmm?" She stopped skipping and was walking by my side, looking up at me contentedly.  
"Well back when we were fighting, I said that no one taught me and you kinda, you kinda just stopped for a bit"  
"Mm I did didn't I" I replied, thinking of what I should say next.  
"Well?" Lumi pressed.  
"Well Lumina, do you remember what you said?" I waited until she happily nodded her head. "Well when you said that no one had taught you it made me think."  
"About what?" She cut in, impatiently asking more questions then she needed. I took a deep breath before continuing.  
"I was thinking that what you said was very true and a little sad." There was a lull in the conversation as she seemed to process what I said. After the pause she asked, "Well why do you think it's sad?"  
"Because when Igneel left me, I was very sad and he was around long enough to teach me a lot of things. So I thought that for you it would have been extra sad because Metallicana left before you could even count past ten."  
"Hey! I can count to ten"  
"I know you can Lumi" I sighed, hoping she took in what I said.  
"I think I get it. But I don't feel sad, I have you." She said, grabbing my hand and skipping in front of me. We stopped and I looked at her. She had a huge beaming smile on her face, head tilted to one side. Something warmed inside of me, and it wasn't my magic. She was just too cute and, and, well instead of trying to explain it to myself I just grabbed her and hugged her, lifting her up and twirling from side to side. "Awww! Stop saying things you don't understand!"  
"Aiden! I can't breathe!" She protested, kicking and flailing, trying to break free. I replaced her back on her feet and crouched in front of her. "You know Lumi, I wish you were my sister" I said as genuinely as I felt in my heart. There a pause before she replied cheerfully, "I can be your sister! And you can be my big brother!" she paused and then added, "But you have to teach me things"  
"I can do that" I replied.  
"Aaand you have to let me beat you at least once"  
"Oh I don't know about that" I said walking on, hands still held together.  
"Aww but big bro, you have too!" she complained. I started having second thoughts about a younger sister.  
"Hey maybe I won't have to _let you_ beat me." She went to say something before my words sunk in.  
"Oh I'm so gonna beat you. You'll never see it coming. I'm gonna get stronger than everyone one and then I'll learn new moves and" she continued ranting about all the things 'she'll do' to beat not only me, but apparently everyone. She let go of my hand and started mock fighting with what I think was a ninja before her enthusiasm got the best of her and she 'accidently' hit me in groin. "OOORGH!" I dropped to my knees, clutching my, well my parts. "Uh oh" Alumina breathed, taking a worried step away from my hunched over body. "Aiden I'm sorry, are you ok?" she asked hesitantly stretching her hand out to touch my shoulder. She clutched her hands to her chest, probably shaking in her boots, but I felt she deserved it right now. I slowly raised my head and glared at her. She took another step back, "Uh you seem fine so I'm just gonna go now" she quickly said before turning and bolting down the walkway. I gave chase, I wasn't in that much pain and if I was I wouldn't be laughing. "Come back here!" I yelled at her, she let out a squeal when she heard me coming and increased her pace tenfold. "I'm sorry big bro!" she called back.  
"Oh that's not gonna save you now!" I was gaining on her, and she must have known because she spun on her heels and, "ROAR!" hot iron blasted its way toward me and I had to dive out of its way. That girl has no restraint. I ended up in the canal, I was cold and I hate cold. Alumina noticed I was gone and made her toward my previous location, still hesitant she looked at the bubbled forming on the surface where I was letting out air. "Aiden" she said softly. She never saw it coming. I burst out of the water, grabbed her hand and pulled her in with me, I was rewarded with a cute high pitched scream before the world became a series of bubbles and muffled giggles. We broke the surface laughing and splashing water at each other. "What was that for? You couldn't just burn me or something?" she complained.

"You need to learn not to just blow hot metal whenever you feel like it, it's dangerous to other people"  
"Ok I'm sorry" she replied in a small voice, her expression dropping a little. I splashed a little water at her with a laugh and her smile returned and she was laughing and giggling again.

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Hope you enjoyed!


	4. Chapter 4

Guys i would love feedback so dont be shy :P.

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On our way back to my place I had to deal with a load of complaints as we slodged and squished down the road, all wet and drenched. The complaints in question all came from Alumina of course, she was a little annoyed with fact that I had dried myself quite easily with my magic, apparently it was 'un-fair' that I got to dry myself while, apparently, she slowly rusted away. 'Oh c'mon Aiden help me!" she winged, chucking a mini temper-tantrum.  
"No. You have to be taught a lesson" I said sternly.  
"Ooooh" she cried, throwing her head from side to side. Causing her wet hair to fling around, throwing water at me, although it instantly turned to steam as it touched my person. "But I'm melting!" she dramatically stated, acting out the scene from 'The Wizard of Oz'.  
"I'm sure you'll survive" I dead panned. Alumina resigned to a mere grunt. She stomped the rest of the way home.

She had her own place, but my house was closer, and would be a little less lonely. She took to the shower and I had to go down to her place to grab her a change of clothes. Lumi hadn't really given thought to clothes when she instantly threw herself into my shower. I made it back before she was finished, thankfully. The idea of a tiny naked female iron dragon slayer roaming around my house wasn't very pleasing, at all. I opened the bathroom door just enough to fit my hand through, shoving her clothes into the bathroom. "Forgetting something?" I queried.  
"No I don't I… Oh." I felt the clothes be taken from my hands and withdrew from the bathroom and closed the door. "Did you go all the way to my house?" She questioned.  
"Well I couldn't have you walking around naked could I"  
"I guess not" a pause "thanks Aiden" she said softly.  
"No problem sis" I said jokingly.  
"You could have picked something for stylish" she mumbled  
"What was that?" I asked, fully aware for what she said, and what she would say next.  
"I said thankyou. Again." That's what I thought. I heard ruffling from the bathroom and then the front door flew open.  
"Guess WHAT!" Of course, it was Chi. I looked at him a little disappointed at his lack of maturity, and pretty much everything else.  
"Who's that?" Lumi asked from the bathroom.  
"An idiot" I said flatly, turning toward the kitchen.  
"Guess" Chi pressed, his mood never faltering, "and who's in your bathroom?"  
"His little sister!" Lumi called back. Chi raised an eyebrow, a smile stretching across his face. "Oh is that so is it?"  
"So what I'm I supposed to be guessing?" I quickly interjected, trying to steer the conversation away from what I knew was going to be a very stupid conversation. Chi leaped onto my couch and threw his feet up onto my table.  
"We have a mission."  
"Oh is that so"  
"Ooh can I come?" Lumi was obviously eavesdropping  
"No"  
"Sure" me and Chi said simultaneously. "What's the mission?" I said before any protests could be spoken.  
"We've been put on guard duty" he said quickly.  
"What? Why would you pick such a dumb mission?" I complained.  
"If you would let me continue" as if I interrupted in the first place, "I didn't pick it, we were assigned"  
"Assigned? What? Why? Aww why can't we go on any fun missions?" I sounded a lot like Lumi then.  
"I'll do it if you want" she offered, stepping out of the bathroom, hair still wet.  
"No, you're not going. And I thought you said the water was going to rust you." I pointed out, flicking a strand of wet hair into her face. "I got over it" she answered, flatter than was normal for a child. She dumped her washing on the floor and proceeded to raid my fridge. I huffed and bent over to pick up _her _clothes. "What are we guarding?" I asked, giving in to the sadness that was this mission.  
"A vault"  
"What's in it?"  
"Important stuff. They wouldn't say what exactly, there's this rich man that lives next door. He owns this big magic company that produces most of the magic crystals sold throughout the country"  
"Sounds big"

"So does the price tag on this" Chi answered, swishing the mission paper through the air above his head. I snatched it off him and read through it. My eyes widened at the figure at the bottom of the page. "That is a lot. Why did we get this mission?"  
"Apparently the person who sent out the request specifically requested that you be there. Something about assurance and being the best. Sounded a bit odd in my opinion."  
"Sooo I can't come?" Lumi tried once more.  
"No"  
"Sure you can" me and Chi said simultaneously, for the second time. I shot him a look and he responded with a huge grin. "Lumi, you can't come with us just yet ok. Maybe when I've taught you a few things about fighting. And not killing people" I added the last bit in a lowered voice. "When do we leave tomorrow?"  
"Eight in the morning"  
"Great!" I groaned, running my hand down my face. "Fine, see you tomorrow morning"  
"I'll see you too" Lumi said cheekily.  
"No!"  
"Sure"

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:P


	5. Chapter 5

Sorry about the shorter chapters. Longer one's are coming soon.

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So it was that the next morning I was up before eight, dressed and ready to head out on our mission, our really stupid mission. I got out of bed with a groan, got dressed with a groan and brushed my teeth with a groan. As you can tell, I really couldn't be bothered. But unfortunately, life at Fairy Tail can be a pain in the ass at times. "RISE AND SHINE FIRE BOY!" A real pain in the ass. "People are still sleeping Chi, keep your voice down" I said still fighting off the remnants of a restless sleep, filled with nightmares and yelling in the form of a certain iron dragon slayer. After multiple dreams she ran into my room, rambling about her latest nightmare, I couldn't understand much of what she said, but I lazily flipped the sheets back to allow her to climb in. She slept without incident after that, although her constant kicking kept me up for a while.

"Let's go!" he beckoned, too excited for this kind of mission, I put his excitement down to him trying to get on my nerves. I was probably correct. "Let me check on Lumi before I go" I turned away from him to head into the bedroom, and I swear I saw him smile broadly. Shaking my head at the thought, I stuck my head into the room and the sight, was too say the least, amusing. Alumina was sprawled over the bed, she had thrown the sheets clear of the bed, somehow, and all her limbs were stretched out at funny angles, aaand she was snoring. "Psst!" there was a pause in her snoring and she stirred, rolling onto the very edge of the bed, her right arm dangling off the side. "Hey, Lumi" I hissed, "hey I'm going now" she mumbled something and then droopily opened her eyes. I stepped into the room and knelt before her. "What?" she croaked still probably half asleep. "I said I'm going now. Be good ok, there's cereal in the cupboard next to the fridge when you get hungry"  
"But I wanna come with you" she replied, swinging her arm at my shoulder.  
"I know you do" I said, grabbing her hand gently, "but right now you seem a little bit too tired after last night" I winced at the reminder.  
"Mm okay" she replied, dropping her arm back to hang over the bed. She rolled over and mumbled something about having a nice day and staying safe. I smiled and gently kissed her forehead, said bye and left the room. But of course Chi was standing in the door way, leaning on the frame with a huge 'mushy' smile on his face. "Aww how cute. You really do love her like a sister don't you?" He teased, although his words were serious. "Yes I do" I said, my tone swimming in seriousness, "now let's go".

"You know" Chi said breaking the long peaceful silence I was relishing. I rolled my eyes, why? Why does this happen to _me_, "you should have let her come with us" he said, in a 'matter-of-fact' tone. I groaned looking to the skies praying for a miracle, "I don't need your permission" nor did I need him to talk, period.  
"You've pretty much adopted her as your sister and-"  
"Exactly" I interrupted. There was a short silence.  
"Well this mission isn't exactly dangerous, and we are both here, what could go wrong. How old were you when you went on your first mission?"  
"I'm different" I stated, I was a year younger than Lumi, to be honest.  
"Exactly, why are you being so protective of her? You've known her since she waddled into our guild six years ago and we both know she's more than capable to look after herself" Chi continued on, all very valid points, but all meaningless to me.  
"Chi. I don't need to explain myself to you and we both know very well why I'm being, 'overprotective' of her and I'd rather not have that conversation again. Ever." My words were heavy with steel, I meant what I said, and the silence that followed was proof that we had reached a mutual agreement.  
"I just think that you shouldn't constrict her, remember she isn't really your sister and she doesn't know why you act the way you do and might not even approve of your protection when she grows up and becomes a little more independent." Every point made, stung a little. The truth hurt and sometimes it left scars.  
"Chi, please don't make this mission worse than what it already is" I said, desperately trying to close off this conversation.  
"Fine. But when we get back, we are having a serious talk about this, seriously I don't think you-"  
"I'm looking forward to it" I interrupted struggling to keep my temper under control. Oh how the past never truly stays in the past.


	6. Chapter 6

We arrived two silent hours later. That previous conversation spoiled any hopes for later conversing. Chi was a good friend and he meant well, but even though the things he said were true and intelligent, for a change, those same things plucked certain strings within me that I had rather keep taught for a long long time. But oh well, the destination was quite a marvel. The hot shot Chi talked about the previous day lived in a huge mansion. It was a beautiful soft white colour and the second level was surrounded by a lavish balcony, neatly decorated with lush plant life and expensive looking furniture. The front yard itself was just as magnificent, by the looks it was professionally designed and had this magical atmosphere to it. The complex adjacent to it, our mission, was just as big but much less pleasing to the eye. It was essential a big grey box. There was no lush garden, or any plant life for that fact. It didn't have a wrap-around balcony or windows, the only opening was the glass door at the front. So we made our way to the entrance and introduced ourselves to the clerk at the front desk. After making a call she guided us deeper into the complex, down a few flights of stairs and we ended up at the vault. A huge metal door, resting on massive hinges. I placed my hand on its surface and I could feel a powerful magic seal protecting it, if that wasn't enough, the steel it was made out of felt strong enough. Although not stronger than Lumi's iron. "Can I ask" I spoke, turning to the clerk, "why exactly were we called to guard this?" I gestured to the intimidating door behind us. "I mean, it seems pretty sturdy and the seal on it. I mean _I _would have a hard time breaking it. And why today?" The clerk looked us up and down, as if deciding if we were worth answering. "He received a tip off, that someone was going to break in, so he called in, what he said was the best" she said it as if she didn't believe it. "The boss is a bit overprotective of his… products" this clerk was acting a little strange, I wasn't convinced we were being given the whole truth. "You are not to leave your post until sunset, at that time I will personally come to relieve you of your duty. That is if the tip off was false, otherwise you should be expecting company within the hour" she explained, sounding a little posh.  
"If you have this much info, why didn't you just inform the authorities" Chi asked  
"For reasons that he only knows. Now I have work to do and so do you. See you in two hours gentleman and please, try not to cause too much damage. I've heard you two have a reputation of going overboard" I heard Chi huff and he crossed his arms.  
"We'll do our best" I said professionally. The clerk turned and strut off, chin held high, heels clacking on the concrete floor.  
"She was a bit of a b-"  
"Busy lady? Yeah I agree. Oh well, might as well get comfy, we've got about forty minutes before we get 'company'"  
"This all seems a bit suss don't you think" Chi's tone became serious. I nodded giving it thought, staring in the direction the clerk went off.  
"Well we can't do much so let's just wait until this is over before we start poking our nose around."

We sat on the col hard ground, at least Chi did, my rear end was quite warm. Chi passed the time by talking, it was more like babbling, while I tried to think about our little convo we had in the morning. Chi was right about what he said, but it was hard for me to put his words into action. I had a troubled past, one that pained me to remember, so I quickly dropped the subject and tried to listen to what Chi was rambling about. All I got was "supercharged toasters" before a black throwing knife clanged off the vault door. Our heads snapped toward the thrower, and Chi had to flash backward to dodge another knife. We leapt to our feet and jumped into action. Turns out there was more than one cloaked enemy, there were about ten of them, all wrapped in black garments from head to toe. "Ninjas?" Chi asked, zapping from wall to wall. Three knives came my way and I deftly flicked them away, hand cloaked in fire and I threw myself into action, all of the sudden it felt much darker than it had before, it must have been the ninjas doing. I threw a punch at the nearest one, but they were fast and he jumped back, sinking into the shadows. The room flashed brightly, as Chi made his moves. He was faster than me so maybe he would have better luck trying to whack one. Of course I was right, no later did a body slide past my feet, seemingly unconscious. "You might have to take these!" I called over the shouts, dodging and blocking more knives and kicks. "What's wrong, feeling a bit sluggish fire boy" he teased, flashing in front of me and then quickly dashing away again. I chuckled, shaking my head, "Show off!" I called back. I heard his laugh bounce around the vault room as I grabbed a katana by the blade, winking at the shocked ninja before punching him right in the nose. I yanked the sword free and kicked the man in the gut, sending him reeling backward. An all too common sixth sense warned me that there was behind me, and a spun around kicking the man in the ribs, he crumpled and fell to the floor.

This darkness was getting too me, and by the looks of things there were still about five to take care of.  
"Chi do you think if I light this place up, you can speed this up" I offered, grinning, the fire in my right hand becoming more restless. "Oh I'll see what I can do" he joked, his voice sounding like it was coming from everywhere. That was good enough for me, I let the fire crawl up my arm and engulf my entire body. Whoever was near me began to back off. I clenched my fists and let out the fury of my fire. It flared violently, illuminating the whole room, burning away the darkness, forcing the ninjas out of their shadows. Bare and vulnerable, Chi went to work. A bolt of lightning smacked a man in the chest, lifting him off the ground and smashing him into a wall. As soon as the body hit the wall, the same streak of electricity bolted off at a jagged angle, hitting another in the gut, this time it discharged. The man engulfed in electricity, his body convulsing, but that was Chi's last victim bathed in the light of my fire.

The wall behind me exploded violently, with so much force _I _was thrown to my feet. My flame instantly being snuffed out, we were all plunged into darkness, although the new whole in the wall was allowing a lot of sunlight to seep through. Chi appeared by my side, eyes glowing the same yellow as his hair, covered in arcs of electricity, he helped to my feet. He was about to attack the new threat before a placed a hand on his shoulder. "Get those guys" I said nodding to the black clad figures, "I'll get this guy" cracking my knuckles I strode toward the now crumbling wall. But my overall badass appearance was cut short when another explosion knocked me off my feet. "This has to stop!" I said a little frustrated at the once again recurring theme from yesterday. I jumped to my feet, once again allowing the fire in my hand to freely lick its way up my arm and over my chest. This time I ran toward the crumbling wall, bracing myself for anymore impacts, and there were, but bracing myself as I ran I was buffeted by their force, but I kept to my feet. Alarms blared within the complex, but I couldn't see any guards rushing to aid us.

I ran through the growing dust cloud and stopped as I felt a hand on my chest. I looked up and saw a figure, clad in armour, I heard the man chuckle before an explosion ripped the space between us. I was thrown back again, this time landing in a crouch, kicking up rubble as a tried to slow my backward momentum. "Explosion magic huh? I've never met a wizard like that before" I taunted, rising to my full height, "well there's a first time for everything" I advanced, my body now completely covered in fire, I think it would have given me a very intimidating appearance, but this man didn't seem intimidating at all. A magic circle appeared in front me but I quickly raised my arms and took on the full force of the explosion, but it wasn't enough to stop me. Emerging from the dust cloud I must have shocked the wizard, as he took an uncertain step back at my unexpected appearance out of the explosion. So I used his surprise to my advantage, I leaped at the target, swinging my right arm around for a right hook, smacking the wizard in his jaw with a flaming fist. I followed through with an uppercut and spun into a push kick, sending the armour clad wizard back a few metres. Each blow accompanied by a loud thud and a burst of fire. But the demo man wasn't down yet, so I pressed with the attack.

We threw ourselves into a relay of punches and kicks, his attacks each being amplified by an explosion, and mine more deadly with my fire intensifying. The booms and thuds made quite a show, as every explosion caused my fire to flicker and ride the shockwave, it gave our dance a quite spectacular appearance. Every punch and kick let off a wide circle of fire and every kick and punch was a loud as thunder, the two of us were matched quite evenly. This would be fun.

But it seemed that the both of us were getting restless of not being able to land a solid hit on the other, because after a rather force full exchange, we both leaped away from each other, trying to think of a new strategy. "I'm actually enjoying myself a little" I stated, wiping a little sweat off my flaming brow. The demo man, chuckled through his helmet. "Say. Why don't you take off that mask, make this a little more personal" I stated, gesturing to them man's helm, but alas the only response I received was yet another attack. He used an explosion behind him to launch himself at me, quite quickly, and I didn't have much time to react. He flew into me, fist hitting my chest, winded he made his advance on me, grabbing me by the throat I was lifted off the ground. A magical circle appeared around the man's free hand, and a bright light appeared within it. It was radiating a lot of energy, and the expression the man was giving me was telling me this wasn't going to be fun. He brought his fist up to my chest and opened his palm, what I saw could only be described as a really big explosion in a really small space and whenever you have a lot of force in a small area the affect is much worse. Let me tell you, that blast hurt, a lot.

I was sent flying, my flames snuffed out I flew through the concrete wall surrounding the complex and ploughed through a wall on the second story of that CEO's mansion. Some blast that was to end me up all the way over here. Glass and wood shattered inwards, coming to rest over my fallen body. There were two maids in the room I involuntarily busted into and the pair yelled simultaneously. They scurried out of the room, leaving me to groan and painfully pull myself out of the rubble. Dusting myself off, I looked back along my trajectory path, laying my eyes on the wizard that did this. I had to give it to him, that really did hurt and not many people have caused me pain. The man's hand was still smouldering when I jumped back down to finish the fight, and I mean finish it.

"You see the thing with explosion magic" I said coolly as I walked toward my enemy, "every attack is just that, an explosion. And an explosion is a burst of energy, it doesn't last. So if the burst doesn't do the job, you need another burst, but imagine if you could sustain that burst for longer. That same explosive energy being unleashed continuously. That's where my magic comes in" I ended with a huge smile. Fortunately for me the man just listened to me, instead of blasting me to the moon, but hey, I wasn't complaining. "Very few survive that blast" he spoke, shocking me a little. "I didn't know you could talk" I teased.  
"Can we just finish thi-", he was quite rudely cut off as Chi decided to join in and punch my guy in the back, pushing him toward me. I took the invitation and punched him in the face, causing him to reel backwards, allowing Chi to kick him in the back. It was a two man washing machine and it was quite amusing. But demo man wasn't having any more of it, after I launched him back toward Chi once more, he spun on his heel and blasted Chi. But Chi was faster, shooting into the sky away from the danger. I laughed to myself, Chi was always quick to hide in the clouds. "Coward!" the wizard hissed at the sky. A clap of thunder was his only response. Turning back to me, I spoke, "I don't generally do this but" I said, coating my fist in white hot fire, "you kinda annoyed me, and this has gone on for far too long." I sprung into my attack. I can be exceptionally fast when I want to be, this being one of those time I definitely surprised the man. Slapping the arm he raised to try and defend himself to the side, I paused in a crouch, right hand clenched in a fist, burning fiercely with a fire so hot it burned a bright white. "Dragon slayer secret art! Fusion flare!"

Had the explosion wizard known what exactly I was doing, he would have at least tried to protect himself, but alas he didn't and he went soaring. That punch sent him ploughing through the entire complex, smashing holes in at least a dozen walls, burning as he went, there was no way he was getting up after that. "Do you think you over did it?" Chi asked appearing next to me in a flash of lightning. "Mmm maybe a little bit" I joked, making my way through the many man sized holes. Turns out the man came to a stop across the road, a tree had toppled over where he broke through its trunk, and he was lying in the dirt, his armour completely destroyed where my fist made contact, the other parts of it semi-melted. His helmet had come off somehow and the face I saw was a huge surprise.

Such a surprise, I stopped in my tracks, Chi came up beside me, "Hey what's up. Oh. Oh wow. A girl? What? I swear that was a man's voice." The person in the armour was indeed a girl, no older than me and Chi, unconscious she had the softest features I've ever seen in a long time. "We can't leave her like this" I stated, still shocked  
"What? Just because she's a girl. Don't you think that a bit sexiest?"  
"What? No"  
"Oh c'mon if it was I guy you would have left him"  
"Hey this is different. You even said I went a little over board and look at her, I could have killed her. Besides, this whole thing feels a bit odd anyway."  
"Even more reason to leave her and go. Besides how are we gonna hide her, we still need to wait for Miss Sassy back at the reception desk"  
"Just throw some leaves over her, she's not going anywhere for a while" I stated, satisfied that I had won my argument. "Damn right she's not going anywhere. You really did a number on her, seriously that was a little excessive, even for you" Chi pointed out. I shrugged him off, gently lifting the women off the ground to move her somewhere a little less visible.  
"Speaking of Miss Sassy, why don't you go tell her that our job is done, just in case all the alarms and explosions weren't obvious enough." Chi chuckled and then flashed away.

To this day, I still don't really know why I decided to take that girl with us back to the guild. Seriously. Now I see it as the best decision I have ever made, but back then, to me it soon became the worst decision.

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**A/N: Shout out to Captain Falcon, 'Falcon, PUNCH!'. Please feel free to review/comment. Feedback is not only essential but it is much appreciated.**


	7. Chapter 7

The next day I was sitting in the infirmary, waiting for this mysterious girl to wake up out of the coma I put her in, hehe, oops. Nobody came to claim her within the time she was in our 'care' and she didn't have a guild mark, at least not where I could see, I mean some people have their marks in some weird places. She was a mystery indeed, a beautiful mystery, was that weird, I feel like it was. I mean she's unconscious and here I am admiring her, the person that tried to kill me. To be fair I almost did the same thing, this is a very odd situation isn't it?

I wasn't the only to think so anyway, Mirajane had come in earlier to check on her, she wasn't only just the bar maid. She happily walked in, greeting me with that same bubbly hullo and proceeded with her duties. I'm guessing she noticed me staring at the girl as she happily stated, "she is pretty isn't she" stepping back from the bed, giving me a smile with her head cocked to one side. Eye brow raised I sat back in my chair, "What makes you say that?"  
"Well what do you mean silly, she's pretty and by the way you keep looking at her I'm sure you feel the same"  
"Considering we both tried to kill each other, yeah I'd say she's 'pretty'"  
"What's her name?"  
"I dunno that's the thing. I don't know anything about her"  
"Except that she's pretty?" I raised an eye brow, giving Mira a look that said 'really Mirajane'  
"Well yes I know that. For sure"  
"Well good. I'll be off now, gimme a call when she wakes up" Mira left, still as happy as ever. She is the biggest matchmaker I have ever meet.

So as it's been said, she was extremely pretty, she had a rather large amount of hair, reaching down to her middle back, I'm surprised she fit it in her helmet. It was the same beautiful shade as the sun, and I swear sometimes it glowed. If I remember correctly her eyes were a deep sapphire, I only caught a glimpse of them when Wendy, the guild healer/doctor and also a Sky Dragon Slayer, was giving her a once over. Blue and blonde huh? Not cliché at all, but honestly, it could be as cliché as it wanted to be, I for one, was mesmerised. It was during this exact train of thought that she decided to wake up.

"Argh!" she jolted awake, going from lying down peacefully to sitting up on high alert in an instant. Her eyes were going wild, scanning from left to right repeatedly, trying to tell her where she was. "You!?" she recoiled back as her eyes locked onto me where I sat back in my chair.  
"Yes me" I replied smiling cheekily, "how are you feeling?"  
"What did you, what, who? Ergh" she stuttered then thrust her arm in my direction. A magic circle quickly appeared then faded away softly  
"Blown a short fuse?" I teased  
"What did you do to me?"  
"Me? I didn't do anything. What Wendy did was use your magic energy to help you recover faster."  
"Who's Wendy?" she asked, clearly not trusted a word I said.  
"Wendy is our doctor, she is also a sky dragon slayer"  
"Dragon slayer?"  
"Yep, there's three of us in the Fairy Tail guild. Sky, iron and me, fire."  
"Yeah, I remember" she stated roughly, rubbing the spot where I hit her. "Do you usually beat up your opponents and then bring them back to your guild?"  
"No only the pretty ones" I froze, I did not mean to say that out loud. The girl froze to, giving me an odd look. "Erghem, uh yeah, sorry about that." She gave me another look, "No not for calling you pretty, but for knocking you out" I tried to save myself from total embarrassment, but of course I just made it worse. I scratched the back of my head and the floor became so much more interesting than before. "Why?" she asked plainly. I looked up, "Uh why what? Why are you pretty or why did I bring you here?" Oh good job Aiden. She merely looked at me, eye brow raised, arms folded, it was all very condescending. Clearing my throat I attempted to hold my dignity, "I brought you back because I had a hunch" I said simply.  
"You had a hunch?"  
"Yep I had a hunch"  
"What sort of a hunch?"  
"Well the whole thing seemed odd. The people that hired us were acting extremely weird and I didn't really trust them or what they might do with you"  
"So what about the rest of the guys? You weren't worried about them at all?"

"They must have slipped my mind" I said, crossing my arms and looking out the window, trying to avoid her gaze.  
"So it didn't have anything to do with me being a girl?" she asked, tilted her head to one side, her hair following her movement. I looked at her but didn't say anything, she gave me a look that told me she got her answer before she swung her legs out of the bed to get up. "Look I find this whole thing a bit weird after we tried to kill each other and you nearly succeeded and decided to bring me back here, but I have to-" she stopped, looking down at the gown she was wearing. "Where are my clothes?" she asked, hands grabbing the edges of the gown, her face very serious.  
"Uh in the cupboard" I gestured to the cupboard in the corner  
"Who took them off?" She asked carefully.  
"N- no not me that's for sure! Jeez don't look at me like that!" I threw my arms up in defence. She glared at me before turning around sharply, her hair whipping around swiftly. Stopping by the cupboard door, hand on the handle, she looked at me and said simply, "Get out". Without hesitation I made my way to the door before I stepped out I stopped to ask, "Are you gonna at least give me a name?"  
"Seeing as you almost killed me, you can call me Nova" she said plainly. I nodded, satisfied, then she added softly, "for now". I smiled and closed the door.

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**A/N:** How you guys likin it? BTW shout out to my friend for pointing out a bunch of mistakes to me :P


	8. Chapter 8

"Who is she?" Eathelyn whispered to the rest of the group, which had apparently congregated upstairs in the guild hall. "I dunno, she was one of the ones who broke into the vault" Chi stated, lowering his voice as well.  
"Well why'd you bring her here than?" Eathelyn protested  
"I didn't Aiden did!" he replied defensively  
"What was his reason?" that was Erza  
"What was who's reason?" I said loudly, appearing on the top of the staircase leading down below. All three heads snapped up in my direction. Eathelyn cleared her throat and looked away and Chi gave me a smile and waved stupidly. Erza however just continued to look at me, she obviously had something on her mind. Pulling a chair out to join them I comfortably flopped into my chair, "What is it Erza?" I said, getting straight to the point.  
"Why did you bring an enemy into the guild?"  
"She's not really an enemy of the guild, she was just part of our mission. Doesn't make her a bad person." Erza continued to stare, "I'm not convinced"  
"Yeah I can see that. What would you like me to say Erza?"  
"I just don't think it was the smartest decision" she said, crossing her arms against her chest  
"Well too late and I'm sure you've made stupid decisions before"  
"No I haven't. I don't recall any dumb decisions" I rose my eyebrow at that.  
"Must you be reminded of a certain pair of pyjamas?" that shut her up. Satisfied I looked away and glanced over the guild room and noticed that the huge double doors were slowly being pushed open. Nova?  
"Hey where are you going?" I called, getting up and hurriedly making my way toward her. She turned around to look at me, glanced at the slightly doubtful group behind me and then swiftly disappeared outside. "Hey!" I called again following her out.

The sun was low in the sky and was beaming right into my face as I stepped out. Shielding my eyes I looked around frantically, and spotted her off to the side running away quite quickly. But luckily I was faster and she still hadn't recovered fully. Back in the guild, the trio shared confused looks but quickly shrugged it off. Running after the women known as Nova, I had to wonder why I was doing what I was, and of course I couldn't find answer. "Hey! Stop! Where are you going? Nova!" I caught up to her and had to dodge an attack before I grabbed her arm and spun her around.  
"What are you doing?!" She hissed  
"Hey I could ask you the same thing, you haven't recovered yet"  
"Yeah well I feel fine" she argued turning away.  
"Stop!" I said again, grabbing her arm once more. She sharply yanked her arm free turning to me.  
"What do you want with me?!" she said roughly  
"Nothing I'm just worried that all" I said softly  
"Well don't be. You don't know me and I don't know you, so leave me alone. You should have just left me knocked out" I didn't know what to say to that. I felt that I should say something but what.  
"What guild are you in?" was all I thought of.  
"What?" She asked a little surprised  
"What guild are you in, I didn't see a mark"  
"Well there's you answer" she said flatly.  
"You really shouldn't go, you haven't recovered and you might be suffering from mild magic deficiency" I said sincerely.  
"Like I said before, you don't know me" and off she, blasting herself into the air, trying to get as far from me as possible. I watched her fly and something told me to follow her. So I did.

Sure enough, not long after she blasted off, she faltered mid-flight, landing on a tree branch funny before attempting another blast off. As she made to take off, the fact that most of her magic was used for her recovery and that she kept using it eventually caused her to faint, again. 300 meters above the ground she lost consciousness and at 100 meters I met her in the sky. Landing on the ground, I looked down at the once again limp women in my arms. "De ja view" I said aloud, shaking my head. "Guess where we are going back to" I said out loud making my way back to the guild, "Oh are the guys going to give me weird looks when we walk in"

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**A/N:** TBH I dont realise I'm writing short chapters so sorry if that's annoying.


	9. Chapter 9

**A/N:** Hey look! This ones a bit longer! Please review, feel free to point out mistakes as well.

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"Back already?" Chi quipped cheekily, still seated with the two women. I shot him a glare and hastily made my way back to the infirmary, carrying this still very mysterious woman bridal style. Luckily Mirajane hadn't made her rounds yet and the bed that Nova had occupied not so long ago was exactly how she left it. Gently laying her back down I let out a sigh as both the physical strain was released and another strain that I hadn't noticed was lifted off my shoulders. Shaking the thought away I sat back down in my seat and waited.

About two hours later she woke up. She looked around for a moment before understanding. "Seriously?" She asked rubbing her eyes.  
"Seriously" I confirmed. "I told you but you didn't listen"  
"Don't patronise me" she hissed. She lifted herself into a sitting position and looked at me, shining those blue orbs at me once more. "I'm guessing you brought me back" I nodded smiling. "We'll I couldn't just leave you there" I winced after I said it, remembering our little spat beforehand and the words she said to me. She either missed it or pretended to because she simply nodded her head as if in understanding. "Thankyou" she finally said after a short silence.  
"No problem. Now are you going to listen this time, or am I going to have to walk into my guild as if we just got married and you passed out from joy, for the third time today?" I was delighted when my little joke caused her to blush ever so slightly. She hid it well though, turning away and keeping her voice neutral she replied, "I'll be up in a minute" I nodded, satisfied that my arms won't be getting another work out today, and made my back upstairs.

"She alright?" Ethylene asked as I appeared at the top of the stairs. Raising an eyebrow at her sudden display of care I indulged her. "She's a little stubborn, but she's fine."  
"Remind you of someone?" Chi muttered to Erza, who grunted with a smirk  
"What was that?" I said sternly, giving Chi a rough look  
"Nothing". Shaking my head at his ever so present immaturity I took a seat at one of the tables, away from the trio. Aware that Nova would be coming up soon and wouldn't want to sit near any one besides maybe me, I thought it wise to put a little distance between me and them. As if on cue, she came hesitantly up the stairs. She stood atop the last step and gave the hall an uncertain look. Her features softened a tiny fraction when she saw Chi but immediately hardened when she locked eyes with Erza. It seemed as if they shared a moment that existed outside of our plane of time, it was as if so many thoughts were shared, but to me it was literally no more than a mere once over. Nova confidently looked away and made her way towards me, although Erza never once stopped watching her. She pulled a chair out, being careful not to drag its legs along the wooden floor and create too much noise, and sat down slowly, still scanning her surroundings. "You know, if we were going to do something to you we would have done it when were knocked out," I paused "the first time" I added jokingly. She gave me a sarcastically humoured expression and plopped into her seat. "BOOM!" I yelled as soon as her butt hit the seat, slamming my hands onto the table, causing her to jump in surprise. In her defence she wasn't the only one, I saw Chi spill his drink a little and Ethylene drew a line through whatever she was drawing. "What the hell!" she hissed once she regathered herself.  
"What, c'mon lighten up" I said happily  
"When can I leave?" She asked sternly  
"Tomorrow morning" Wendy stated, walking up from behind me. She walked over to the side of the table so we could both see her. She was quite tall for a woman and the both of us had to crane our necks a little to look at her. Wendy was older than most of us, at the age of twenty four she out grew Mirajane by about three years. Her dark blue hair always fascinated me when I saw her and she let it grow to sit just above her waist. She was a pretty woman and it was a wonder how she wasn't in any serious relationship, or any that the rest of the guild new about. I made a mental note to ask Mira about that topic later, then quickly tuned in to the conversation doc was having with our latest patient.  
"Tomorrow? No that's too long, I need to leave tonight, if not right now!" Nova argued  
"Well I'm sorry but unless you want Aiden here grovelling over your sleeping form for a couple of more hours be my guest" Wendy retorted with a wave of her hand. It took me a moment to realise what she said as I was a little distracted by Nova's eye's for the second time today.

"Wait! What?!" I almost squeaked as realisation sunk in. I looked up at Wendy who was grinning coyly, then at Nova who was eyeing me curiously, with a touch of anger. Boy was that a big 'touch'. I shot my hands out in front of me in defence. "Wait wait, I did no- don't! I don't grovel! Ok. Besides I was just trying to figure out if your hair was actually glowing is all." I finished in a 'as-a-matter-of fact' tone, crossing my arms. Wendy raised a brow at that, and Nova crossed her arms and raised her eyebrow quizzically, "My hair?" She asked, grabbing a strand of her hair and pointing it forward.  
"Wha-what? Yeah your hair. I thought it glowed, I wasn't 'grovelling' at it. Alright? And anyway, why can't you leave tomorrow?" Saving myself from further embarrassment, I re-placed the conversation onto its original path.  
"I have somewhere to be" She replied simply  
"Oh like that guild that you don't belong to" I stated sarcastically. Nova shot me a fierce look but I ignored it.  
"You are not going anywhere until tomorrow and if I have to seal this place to keep you in I will" Wendy stated alarmingly sincerely. Chi looked up at that, I didn't think he wanted to be holed up in here all night and neither did anyway one else.

Wendy satisfied that she had no more to say, nodded and walked away, her turquoise heels clacking on the floor boards. Leaving me with a still glaring mystery girl, ignoring the look I leaned forward, determined to get something out of this woman, "So, where do you come from?" I asked, believing it to be a reasonable question. Nothing about the mission or the guild that she didn't belong to, I thought it was the right tact. There was a slightly uncomfortable silence, with her glaring and all, before her expression softened and she leaned forward. "I come from-"  
"Who's this?" Nova was interrupted by a little girl clad in black. Nova's eyes widened a little at the sight of the girl but quickly checked herself.  
"Lumi, what did I tell you about interupptin-"  
"Who are you?" She completely ignored me and looked at Nova, head tilted to one side innocently. Nova looked at me then at Alumina and began to reply. She opened her mouth but quickly closed it as Lumi spun around to look at me and ask impatiently for the third time, "Who is it?" she said pointing a finger at the girl right next to her. Nova was shocked by the Lumi rudeness and looked like she was about to say something a bit rough before I intervened.  
"This, is Nova. She's from…" I looked at Nova prompting her to fill in the gap.  
"I'm from Drakenlake" she answered flatly  
"Oh" Lumi said as if a little disappointed. Nova ignored the remark and sat back to watch the rest of the display.  
"Lumi where did you come from?" I asked, sliding my chair out to the side and gently turning her around to face me.  
"Me? I came from here, Mangolia!" She said springing to her toes, misinterpreting my question. I sighed, rolled my eyes and tried again, "No I mean just now, where were you?"  
"Oh. I was at home" she said her eyes darting to the ground then back up at me. She was lying.  
"No you weren't"  
"Yes I was"  
"No you weren't don't li-" I was cut off as she turned back to Nova to ask her what she doing here.  
"I've never seen you here before, are you visiting?" she asked curiously.  
"Well I guess you coul-" Nova had softened a little and seemed a little more relaxed, before I interrupted her. Again.  
"What's that?" I said pointing at a tear in Lumi's tights. She quickly spun around, clasping a hand to the incriminating evidence.  
"Nothing I tore it by accident" she said shyly  
"Lumi stop lying what were you doing? Look there's another one!" I said pulling her closer to inspect a tear on her shoulder. She winced and gasped softly as if in pain and I gave her a very stern look then. Her face was quite close to mine and she did all she could to not make eye contact with me. "Show me" I said simply yet sternly. She looked at me innocently before stepping back and reluctantly removing her jacket, to reveal a cut that ran from her left shoulder, around and down to the back of her elbow.

My eye's widened in shock at the sight of the wound, and I shot out of my seat, toppling the chair over, surprising Nova and causing Lumi to wince as it crashed to the floor. Everyone else in the guild looked our way and Chi perked an eyebrow at the scene. I grabbed Lumi's un-injured arm and pulled her close. "Who did this?! What happened?!" I said quietly but roughly.

"N-no one" Lumi stuttered softly. I didn't notice but Nova was paying close attention to the spectacle and had a mix of surprise, curiosity and worry plastered across her features. "What do you mean no one?" I continued, getting angrier.  
"I'm sorry" Lumi said in an even smaller voice than before and softly began to sob. Her tears snapped me out of my rage for a little while, long enough for me to compose myself a little better. "Stop crying-" Lumi wenched free of my grip and bolted, her sobs could be heard as she rushed down the hall and exited the guild. The doors slammed shut loudly as the guild was silent for a while. I was extremely confused and angry, I was very angry. I looked at her small jacket in my hand before looking up at Chi who seemed to have a disapproving look on his face. "What?!" I snapped from across the hall. Before Chi could reply Mirajane whispered something I couldn't hear and he looked away. I was about to pursue him when I felt a firm hand on my shoulder. I snapped around to see Nova standing firm with, what seemed to be a look of, understanding? As if she knew exactly what I was feeling.  
"I think you should go after her" she said surprisingly gently. It took me a moment to register before checking my emotions to formulate a reasonable response. "There's no point. Who knows where she went, I'll just wait till tomorrow, or when she decides to show up." It was a bit harsh but it was also true, but at the time I couldn't care less. I noticed Chi look at me when I said it, but I ignored him. I turned to leave, but Nova grabbed my arm, again turning me around. "No. You should look for her. It's cold, dark and I think it's going to rain and you have her jacket" she said sternly. I looked at the jacket I held tightly in my hand, surprised by Nova's insight about the situation. She was right and what she said next surprised not only me but the rest of us. "Don't worry I'll help. C'mon"


	10. Chapter 10

**A/N**: Huge, dark chapter. Lots of dark back story! Enjoy! :P

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Back at the guild

"I should have gone with him" Chi said fiddling with the rim of his glass. After watching Nova and me leave to go look for Lumi, I think he was feeling a bit guilty that he wasn't the one to be there for me, seeing as he knows all about me and Lumi, but something held him back. Actually it was someone, Mirajane to be exact. Placing a soft hand on his shoulder just before he was about to get up, she simply shook her head saying, "Not this time". Chi wasn't sure what she meant but for some reason he just, listened.  
"I told you not to" Mira said, bringing Chi back to the present  
"Why did you do that by the way?" Wendy asked who had been sitting near when the scene played out. Now she was leaning against the bar, nibbling on a bowl of pretzels.  
"Yeah what was up with that?" Chi repeated  
"Well," Mirajane began pausing to form an adequate reason for her action. "Honestly. It was just the way that girl was looking at Aiden and Lumi, it was…. Familiar" she finally finished, struggling to put her feelings into words.  
"Familiar?" Chi questioned  
"I don't know how to explain it. I just felt that the girl knew what she was doing"  
"And I don't know what I'm doing?" Chi asked, still confused  
"That's not what I meant Chi" Mira huffed feeling a little defeated  
"Just trust her decision Chi" Erza interjected, listening to the conversation, although none had paid attention to her. Chi raised an eyebrow at her sudden interference, but if Erza thought what Mira did was right, then who was he to argue.

On the streets

It had indeed begun raining, as Nova had predicted, and the streets were beginning to empty. Those that remained were either hastily running to shelter or pulling out umbrellas. I however was quite comfortable drudging through the rain, the water soaking into my clothes, slowing weighing me down more and more each step I took. I was confused and angry and worried, people seemed to notice it as they parted out of my way without hesitation.  
Lumi was hurt and she wouldn't tell me why. She lied to me and she didn't tell me what happened to her. I was angry.  
She was hurt and I wasn't there for her, she had that horrible cut that was as long as her arm and I didn't know why or how. I was worried.  
To top it all off, Nova decided to help me look for her. I barely knew this woman, she barely knew me, let alone Lumi yet she was out here in the rain too, helping me look for a ten year old girl who she didn't know anything about, in a city she didn't know anything about. I was very confused.  
I told her that there was no point. Lumi would keep avoiding us, we would never find her, especially in this weather. Of course, I wasn't having any luck what so ever finding her, I had already checked her house, my house and even Chi's house just to make sure, she hadn't been to any of them. I walked along the canal for a while, no sign of her. I even asked pass-byers if they had seen her, nothing.

Why did she have to run off? What did I do to scare her off? Didn't she understand I was just worried for her? I guess maybe I was asking myself the wrong questions. Why was I so worried? She's my little sister, isn't she? The truth was, she wasn't and she never would be. I sighed, looked at the sky and let the rain drops wash over my face. Lumi was not my sister, but I still cared for her, maybe it was a little too much, maybe even obsessive. But as much as I tried to distance myself from her, to the extent that was proper for our real relationship, I was pulled back in by my nightmares, my demons.  
Steam began to rise off my body as the water soaked into my clothes began to evaporate as my feelings got the best of me. Those demons, those bastards, had never left me alone since that day. That days ten years ago was burnt into my memory, burnt with a stake hotter than any flame I have ever conjured. Scars don't heal and neither do burns.

Somewhere else on the streets

Why was I out here again, out in the cold, in the rain? Oh yeah that's right, that little girl. What was her name? Luni? Lucy? Lumi? I think that was it, Lumi. Actually it was Alumina, but Lumi ran off the tongue better. Who was this girl? She was some girl from that Fairy Tail guild. I think it was Aiden's sister, but if it was there was something up between them. Well besides that awful cut down her arm. That would probably scar, and scars don't heal.

But I still haven't answered my question yet. Why am I looking for this girl who I know nothing about? Well firstly, I'm not looking for this girl not just for her sake, it's got something to do with that boy Aiden too. The way he looked at that gash along her arm, his reaction, it was all very familiar. I knew what he was feeling in that moment and I knew how Lumi was feeling too. I know because I have a little sister too. Which, seeing as I'm being honest now, is also the reason why I wanted to leave so eagerly earlier that day. Me and my little sister, Serah, we live alone. Our parents… well our parents are dead. They died when I was nine, Serah was six.

When Serah was six, she was kidnapped by this dark strange group of men. One of those men, I will never forget, he didn't have a face, at least a normal face. But instead he had a dark, purple magic glow in the shape of some sort of humanoid skull, where his face would be. It never wavered once, it was void of emotion. That skull 'looked' at me, a strange dark smile. It had no eyes, instead there were only deep dark hollow voids, and they bore into my soul and shattered whatever resolve my nine year old self could muster.  
That night I hated myself so much, I hated myself because when I saw him walk through my house like a shade, I did nothing. That face scared me stiff, my body locked up under my sheets, and I couldn't even yell, couldn't even breathe. The only thing my body managed to do was cry. Cry! All I could do was cry! How pathetic! I hate myself for that, I could have prevented all the horrible events that came after that night had I made even a sound. But I didn't, and that _thing_ new I wouldn't. So, he casually ghosted to my sister's room, plucked her out of her bed and took off with her.

The next week was spent with my parents frantically running around trying to find her. My parents were wizard's too, pretty strong ones at that. But none of that mattered the second week after Serah was taken. One night, those same men came back, but they came in much less quietly. They busted down our door, threw my mum to the ground and began yelling something about Serah. "Where's the girl!" one of the men yelled. That ghost man was standing at the back, watching the scene play out, not saying a word, not moving, I don't think he even breathed. He just stood there, hands by his sides staring, staring into my soul. "Where is she!" they yelled again. "What do you mean? Weren't you the one that took her? How would we know where she is? You tell us!" My mother yelled back. It was indeed all very confusing, they take Serah, then come back asking _us_ where she was. "Don't lie woman!" another man yelled, picking my mother up and striking her roughly. Then all hell broke loose.

Dad yelled with rage, attacking the man, striking him down with his burst magic. He went to attack another man, but that skull stepped in front of him, grabbed his face and then his hand glowed and shuddered a dark purple. Dad's body shuddered then fell. Fell lifeless to the floor. Mum yelled, she wailed, her screams manifesting the pain her heart was no doubt bleeding. Me? I just watched, again. Silently I watched as my father was taken from me. Why? Why didn't I do something!? WHY!?  
But that man wasn't finished destroying my heart and my life. He silently walked over to my mother's form, bent over weeping a heart wrenching weep, lifted her up by her hair, looked into her eyes which flashed an deep purple and then she too was taken from my life. Gone just like that. My sister, then my father, then my mother. I watched them all be taken from me, and I. Did. Nothing. I did nothing and I will never forgive myself for this. No atonement will make up for this, no penance will absolve me of that sin. That day I became tainted, tainted with a black stain that wrapped around my brittle crumbling heart.  
I just stood there as my mother's body hit the ground and I stood there as the man that took everything I loved away from me, walked with that same emotionless 'face' toward me. He stood before me, looked down at me for what seemed years, then quietly turned and left my house. And just like that it was over. I stood alone in my house for the first time in nine years I was completely alone. Left to stare mindlessly at my parents dead bodies, left to walk this earth alone with my broken tattered heart, held together by that black sleeve that was my sin.

But as it turns out, fate seemed to pity me, after all it had done to me, it offered me one ray of light. One day, as I wandered mindlessly through the woods, not caring where I ended up, a dragon found me and approached me. An ice dragon, Aval, was her name and she picked me up and took me away somewhere. I had no idea where we were headed, nor did I care. Since that day, I cared for nothing, for no one, not even myself. My heart was shattered and my emotion bled out from me, my brain carrying me on autopilot through everything I did. So when we landed and I laid eyes upon that ray of light, I didn't realise who it was until after they ran into me, embracing me with warmth I believed ceased to exist in my world. It wasn't until I felt their tears that my heart beat for the first time since that day and I realised who it was. As soon as I did, I blacked out.

I woke at night, feeling that person presence across from me, but I didn't dare confirm it, my heart was trembling at the thought, I was afraid of what would happen to me and what she would think of me. "I'm sorry" was all she said. _She_ said 'I'm sorry". _She _apologised to me. Then I broke and I cried, I cried all the tears my broken heart wouldn't let me, I cried and I wailed that same painful wail my mother did. I cried for my sister who I believed was gone and was now hugging me tightly, whispering love and warmth to me. Serah was back and a part my heart was brought back to life.

But that black stain I painted myself, stayed and it still has.

Serah was saved by the dragon Aval and was why those men didn't know where Serah was and after realising that was the reason my parents were murdered, I became furious with Aval, even though she saved my sister. I yelled and kicked and screamed and tried to pull my sister away from that beast. But she wouldn't budge, she told me it wasn't Aval's fault and then somehow knowing what the cracks in my heart told, she told me it wasn't my fault either. I broke for a third time, but even my beloved sister's forgiveness didn't wipe the stain away. But we stayed with Aval, and she taught Serah ice dragon magic and I took on my dad's burst magic. But with the help of Aval's friend, the blast dragon, I moulded it into explosion magic. My own magic with its own secrets.

We lived like this for another three years until I was twelve, when the dragons went away. Leaving me alone once again, but this time I had Serah, I promised myself that I would make sure Serah never, EVER, felt the loneliness I felt that day.

Which brings me to why I'm here, in the rain that is. I promised my sister something and whenever it came to other people's sisters, I seemed to reciprocate those same feelings. Which is also why I'm trying to find this Lumi girl. Aiden seemed to be her brother, I don't know what sort of relationship they have together, but for the sake of the girl I would make sure she would never have to feel alone, even if I didn't know her.

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**A/N:** DW Aiden's back story is coming soon.


	11. Chapter 11

"Aha! I found you!" I proclaimed triumphantly as I sharply yanked the tarp covering the table up, exposing the little girl hiding beneath it. We were currently in the middle of a market strip, filled with a diverse range of stalls and stands, although they were all packed up and covered with rainproof tarp. It was still raining, had been for the past three hours, and now my clothes were officially saturated, the rain drops now literally sliding off my clothing instead of being absorbed within the fabric. Thank fully I had located the 'not-so-troublesome' child and could get out of the rain. "C'mon Lumi, get up lets go" I said softly, as if trying to coax a pup out of its house. Lumi was huddled under that table, legs pulled up to her chest and arms firmly fastened around them. She had water running down her face, and her glassy eyes told it wasn't from the rain. She glanced up at me using her eyes, not fully looking at me, "I don't even know you" she stated, not with distrust but just as a statement, as if asking me to convince her to come along with me. "Well, I'm Nova and me and your brother know each other" or at least, getting to know each other, but I left that part out.  
"I don't have a brother" she said softly, shuffling in her position  
"Hey don't be mean like that. He's just worried about you, there's no need to disown him." I said, smiling at her exaggerated attitude toward the situation. But my smile turned into a frown as she gave me a very confused look. She cocked her head to one side, "Do you mean Aiden?" she said in the all too common high pitched pre-pubescent voice.  
"Yeah, he is your brother isn't he?" I asked genuinely, now a little confused. My frown deepened when she simply shook her head. Feeling as though this convo would take a while, a motioned to Lumi for her to move over as I ducked under the table and joined her, out of the rain. Shuffling and fidgeting for a moment to fit myself comfortably under the tight space I finally settled with a satisfied huff.  
"Okay," I said, beginning what seemed to be a very interesting conversation, "Aiden is not your brother?" She shook her head. "Care to explain?"  
"Well Aiden isn't really my brother, we just act like it because he said he really cares for me, but I think it's because he's a bit lonely and really wants a little sister". I paused for a while. That was certainly interesting, and insightful.  
"Why would he want a little sister?" I asked, not expecting her to know but interested in what she would say.  
"I dunno, I think it has something to do with that thing that Chi and Erza will never tell me about". Well that was definitely interesting. I was about to ask another question about that, but then realised she just said she was never told about it. Nodding my head in self thought, I brought my attention back to the matter at hand. Getting this girl home. "Well Lumi, brother or not, Aiden was just very worried about you and got a bit angry that you were hurt. Do you want to tell me what happened to your arm so I can tell him instead of you?" I asked, adopting a soft, 'kid friendly' tone. She shook her head roughly, as if shaking it faster will make her 'no' seem more potent. "C'mon Lumi, we both know he will want to know" I stated, hoping to win her over. And get out of this rain and finally head home. She looked up at me, after a moment of staring and consideration she spoke. "I was training in the woods when a try I attacked fell and it cut me like this" she confessed, gesturing to the cut. Although it was more than a cut. "Who were you training with?" I asked out of curiosity. She looked away, a little embarrassed by the question. "Myself" she said in a small voice. I nodded my head in understanding, somewhat aware of her situation and how he was feeling. "Well kido! I think it's time we met up with him and took you home. How about it?" she receded further under the table at the mention of returning to Aiden. Sighing, a little exasperated I pulled her in closer, "Come one Lumi, you're gonna have to face him sooner or later. Don't worry I'll come with you and make sure he doesn't get too angry. Hmm? C'mon we can't stay here all day it's getting dark out" rubbing her shoulder softly, I hoped my words convinced her. My legs were cramping and I really wanted to get dry. She looked up at me and then slowly nodded in agreement, I reciprocated, nodding back. She moved to exit, lifting the tarp but paused. "Nova? Why are you helping me?" she asked, voice filled with curiosity. A fair question, one I hadn't formulated an answer for. "Well Lumi" I guess the truth was easiest, "I have a sister, just like you but a little older, and I wanted to make sure you were ok and I think my sister would have like me to help you". It was all true although put into much simpler terms, and Lumi began nodding as if she fully understood what I said, then asked again, "What's her name?"  
"Her name is Serah. Serah the ice dragon slayer" Lumi's expression at that bombshell was priceless, and let me say any worry about Aiden was pushed right out of the way.

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**A/N**: Pff children...


	12. Chapter 12

"Where did you find her?". After hours of searching the streets in the cold hard rain, I hadn't seen that little dragon slayer anywhere. Wondering where she could have gone my anger slowly began to subside and when it had completely exited my system, I got angry at the rain. As dry as I was, the small steam cloud that followed me where ever I walked began to get on my nerves and my noes began to run. Thankfully my wonderful adventure in the rain was to come to an end. Walking past Lumi's house for what had to be the hundredth time, Nova stepped out of her house, which trust me, was quite a surprise. She beckoned me indoors and quickly explained to me that she had Lumi and she was actually in the shower. Stepping inside out of the rain, strangely my anger somewhat returned, with my newly found aggravation I roughly dropped onto one of the couches in the living room. Nova shot me a curious look before closing the door and proceeding to the kitchen further down the house. The shower that Lumi was using was upstairs, unlike me, Lumi had quite the sum of money in a bank account, supposedly left by her parents. The constant drumming of the rain and the trickling of water through the pipes filled the silence between Nova and I. "Coffee?" she asked from the kitchen, coffee jug in hand. After a long silence she placed the jug back on its pedestal. After taking a sip of her hot beverage she spoke, "She was hiding under a stall in the markets" as neutral as ever.  
"How did you find her?"  
"Call it a hunch" a simple reply. My reply was mere grunt. Another silence followed. The rain kept falling but the trickling of water had ceased. "You know there really wasn't a reason to be that angry at her." I clenched my fist, my anger slowly rising. Why can't people just mind their own business? The irony in that thought only succeeded in agitating me further. "Did she tell you what happened to her?" ignoring her question I tried to keep my anger at a suitable level. After a pause, as if she was studying my attitude, she replied. "She did"  
"And?"  
"And it was an accident, she was in the woods, hit a tree and the tree fell and gave her the cut. I think a piece of bark flew off or a stray branch, who knows. At least you won't be killing anyone today" she answered sarcastically.  
"What's that supposed to mean?" I asked rising from my seat my anger exceeded what I deemed, 'safe levels'.  
"It means you kinda over reacted and looked like you were gonna kill whoever did that to her, if not Lumi herself"  
"You have no right to tell me I over reacted!" I replied, raising my voice.  
"Well if you were worried about her, you only succeeded in scaring the shit out of her" she argued, rising her voice a little.  
"She scared the shit out of me!" I yelled back  
"Why? It was just a cut and she's not even your sister!" she yelled back, stopping me in my tracks. After I few, dumbfounded seconds I replied, "Well since when did you care. I thought we weren't friends and I should have just left you alone, and all of the sudden you're helping me"  
"I have my reasons" she said calmly, crossing her arms over her chest, and sticking her hip out in an all too cliché female pose. In my current fury, strangely I couldn't help but raise an eyebrow at her sudden outburst of femininity. She must have noticed me staring because she quickly straightened up, before surprising me one more time. "So does your reaction have anything to do with whatever Chi and Erza won't tell Lumi?" I recoiled at the mention of that, topic. "That's none of your business" I said in a low voice. Apparently my tone surprised Nova because she rose an eye brow at my tone and let her arms fall to her sides.

My ear twitched as I heard someone step through the hallway that was located to the left of the kitchen. A small step, fit for a small girl. There Lumi was, hair wet and fiddling with her hands nervously, taking sudden interest with the floor boards at her feet. My expression couldn't help but soften at seeing her, but I didn't move from my spot, instead I waited for her to speak. Nervously she eventually spoke, "I- I'm sorry for running away like that" never lifting her gaze from the floor, she sounded very small and I couldn't help but feel a little guilty. Sighing from defeat I stepped forward and gave her a hug, squeezing her softly. "No Lumi I'm sorry for scaring you. I may have over reacted a little" I said, stealing at glance at Nova who chuckled softly. "And I know you probably want to know why but", I removed her from my hug, holding her in front of me to better look at her. "I hope that I will never have to tell you why I acted like that and I hope I will never have to act like that ever again". I wasn't sure if she understood what I had said completely, but her cute hasted nodding satisfied me.

Soon after we all indulged in a home cooked meal, surprisingly Nova decided to stay and even decided to cook for us. This women is beginning to really confuse me, first she wanted nothing to do with me and now she's cooking me dinner. Albeit I do think it's more for Lumi than for me, which in itself is still very confusing.

The meal wasn't bad, I'll give her that and the atmosphere at the table wasn't bad either. Lumi had taken a liking to Nova and they decided to engage in small talk. Talking about simple things like, magic, favourite magazines and just little things about Lumi's life at the guild. I sat at the table quietly, perhaps a little too quietly but I really didn't have anything to say at the time. Decided to leave Lumi to talk with Nova as she seemed quite happy talking to a complete stranger. It wasn't until after dinner and I had tucked Lumi into bed that Nova and I spoke again.  
"I'm guessing you don't have a place to sleep besides the bed back at the infirmary" I said as I came down the stairs. Nova was sitting on the couch watching tv quite relaxed but I saw her stiffen when I spoke.  
"Not really, honestly I was going to leave and go home during the night" she replied. Surprised by her honesty I replied in favour.  
"You're not going anywhere. I'm sure Lumi won't mind you staying the night. She has more than a couple of empty beds to spare"  
"That's a little sad"  
"It's a recurring theme with the members of Fairy Tail"  
"You're all a bunch of orphans?"  
"We all have our problems." Taking a seat to the side of her I could see she was genuinely interested. "I don't suppose you have anyone waiting for you at home?" I asked, not expecting an honest answer. There was a pause as if she was considering whether to answer truthfully, "Yes I do actually."  
"Oh?" I perked an eyebrow  
"My sister, Serah, I'm sure she's waiting for me"  
"I don't think it would be the first time. Or am I wrong?"  
"No, you're correct. I'm started to remember that"  
"What is that supposed to mean?"  
"Oh nothing meant for you. So Lumi isn't actually your sister, what that all about?" having been looking at the tv screen a shot her a glance, sighing before answering her question. "I've known her ever since she waddled into the guild six years ago. I guess being a dragon slayer naturally brought us together, and as the years past, she just became my 'sister'" It wasn't a lie but it wasn't the truth either and maybe Nova sensed it.  
"Why do I get the feeling this is a very sensitive topic?"  
"Because it is"  
"Why is that?" I didn't answer, I just looked at her, almost with a glare. Lifting her hands up in defence she apologised, "Ok, ok I'm sorry sensitive topic." Satisfied I turned back to the television screen and a silence fell over us. "Did I mention Serah is a dragon slayer too" Well that was definitely a surprise.  
"I'm sorry?" I queried worried I heard wrong.  
"An ice dragon slayer actually" she said casually. There was a pause in this new topic before I said softly,  
"I'm sorry"  
"What for?" she asked confused.  
"I'm yet to meet a dragon slayer with their parents still with them" I stated, a little said that I had to voice the fact. Reminding myself of that fact never did anything else but dampen my spirits. There was an uneasy peace between us, feeling as though I made a mistake bringing that up, "I'm sorry I shouldn't have-"  
"No. It's only fair as I have done the same to you more than once" she cut off my apology, obviously not comfortable with the topic, not unlike the rest of us. "So do you live alone too?" she asked, changing the topic.  
"I do, but sometimes I sleep here, or Lumi will sleep over. Us dragon slayers don't like to be alone for long"  
"And will tonight be one of those nights?"  
"Well if you don't have any problem with sleeping under the same roof with me I guess so"  
"It's not like we'll be sleeping in the same bed…. Right?"  
"Yes. If I really needed to I could just sleep with Lumi, remember we don't know each other" I joked, getting up and yawning. "Speaking of which, I'm getting tired, so if you would like to follow me to your assigned bedroom" I said, imitating a hotel assistant. Smiling at me, Nova got off her couch and followed me down the hall toward the stairs.


	13. Chapter 13

**A/N: Some giggled for you?**

* * *

That night sleep didn't come easy. I tossed and turned for a few good hours, it wasn't that I had too much on my mind, quite the opposite actually. In this case it was more of a, quality over quantity type thing. I had only one thing one my mind and of course it was Lumi, more so it was just the general topic of having a 'sister'. Those thoughts were mainly filled with worry and concern, and then came a little guilt for what I had done, and with that guilt came pain. Old pain that was always there, pain from a time in my life years ago, a time I wanted to forget but couldn't, a time that had left its scar and refused to leave me be. It's not the first time I had been kept awake because of those memories and I'm sure it shouldn't be the last, but thankfully I had something to distract myself, even if that memory did stay present at the back of my mind. Nova had a sister, who was an ice dragon slayer, boy was that a shocker. To be honest it was indeed a surprise, the odds of some stranger I met having a dragon slayer for a relative. These thoughts led me to wonder why Nova herself didn't know dragon slayer magic, surely she would have been with her sister at the time. Maybe she wasn't able to learn it or maybe she didn't like it, after that I stopped asking myself questions as I had finally fallen asleep.

Thankfully the sun had chased away the rain as it climbed its way over the horizon, shining its light through my window and onto my face, gently removing me from my slumber. Groaning I lazily rolled over to check the time, eight o'clock, not that early. Sighing, I threw my legs over the side of the bed, rubbing my eyes awake and moved toward the door. Placing my hand on the door knob I paused as I recalled not wearing pants to bed. Looking down at my undies, I decided some pants were in order, so walking back to the bed I lazily shoved my legs down the pants I had been wearing the previous day. Now somewhat presentably dressed I made my way out into the corridor to wake the rest of the house's residents.

Opening the door to Lumi's bedroom, for what had to be the thousandth time since meeting her, I was still pleasantly surprised with what I saw. Every morning she seemed to find a new position for me to find her in, whether it be on the bed or on the floor, and every time I saw her I couldn't help but laugh. This time she was on the floor, I had to walk to the other side of the bed to see her laying there, the draw above her head somehow open, bed sheets half over her body and a pillow grasped tightly in her hand. Quietly closing the draw above her closed, I knelt down beside her a softly poked her cheek, which by the way was covered by several locks of hair, which definitely wasn't going to sit well this morning. She stirred a little, mumbling something that was obviously not part of the english language, then rolled onto her back to lazily look up at me. Struggling to open her eyes, she yawned and stretched her arms, hitting her bed on her left and then becoming a little confused. Looking around she realised she was on the floor, "Why am I on the floor?" she asked, giving me a somewhat accusing look. "I dunno you tell me" I replied grinning, picking up her pillow and sheets and returning them to the bed as she slowly got off the floor. as she walked to the bathroom I couldn't help but chuckle as she scratched her head, making her hair stick up even more. As she closed the door and I made my way out of her room I heard a muffled, "Aw man!", she must have looked in the mirror. Leaving Lumi to deal with her problem I made my way to the bedroom of our guest.

Honestly, walking up to the door I whole heartedly expected Nova to have already left, being in a hurry the other day and all. So casually walking into her room without so much as a warning, I hadn't considered the fact that she wasn't a morning person. "OH MY GOSH WHAT THE HELL?!"  
"Oh shit! I'm sorry, I thought you would have left already"  
"I DON'T CARE JUST GET THE HELL OUT!" Nova frantically yelled as she tried to cover herself with whatever she had nearest her, while at the same time flinging those same things at me. With my eyes partially covered I could only take the blows and hastily get out of the room. Slamming the door shut behind me I heard another bang as something else hit the other side of it. Sighing, thankful I escaped with my life, I apologised again. "I'm really sorry, I thought you would have left before we woke up"  
"Oh shut up!" she snapped, "Don't you know how to knock?!"  
"Well I would never have thought that you slept in your bra and undies" I argued, grinning  
"What, don't you sleep in your undies?!"  
"That's different I'm a guy"  
"You obviously don't know girls to well"  
"Hey I know quite a few girls actually. It's just, not all of them are… well let's just say they're not all that embarrassed about their bodies" I explained a little awkwardly, not sure how to explain it without sounding like a perv.  
"What's that supposed-", pause "You can't be serious?" then realisation.  
"Yeah I am, just don't let Erza or Chi know where you live or else they might end up in your room while you sleep. Especially Erza, she might end up in your bath"

"So you guys aren't just a bunch of orphans, you're also perverts" she said accusingly, but without any hint of disgust.  
"Hey now don't say it like th- Woah!" I was still leaning with back against the door when Nova yanked it open unexpectedly. Falling back into her not so open arms, the floor caught us instead. Landing on top of her with a thud, I was hoping that she wasn't still angry with me seeing her almost nude, even if it was just a few minutes ago. At least now she had her pants and tank top on. Landing with my bottom half thrown over her bottom half and my head to the side of hers at quite close proximity, I stupidly turned my head to apologise and only succeeded in making the moment worse by pressing our lips together. It was only for a moment but that was enough to make Nova very angry and me very scared, "I'm so sorry I didn't mean to-"  
"Am I interrupting something her?" Lumi chose that moment to interrupt. Out of the times she has interrupted me, this was the one time I was thankful that she did.

With speed I did not know I possessed I shot up off the floor, getting as far from Nova as possible, "No no you're not, we just had a, a uh, a- you know what it doesn't matter what it was let's just go downstairs and make breakfast" _Away from Nova _I added in my mind. Whether she was purely just angry, or angry from embarrassment, that glare she gave me was more than enough to make me want to run, very far away. "Is Nova going to be eating with us?" Lumi asked innocently. Hastily pushing Lumi toward the stairs I nervously replied, "Uhh I think it's up to how she feels about eating a meal with us again"  
"Oh I'm sure she won't mind" Lumi replied confidently.  
"I'm not too sure about that darling" I replied in a lowered voice, still feeling Nova's glare through the ceiling.


End file.
